The murder trial of the FedEx driver charged with killing Athena Strand is scheduled for 2025

The trial of Tanner Horner, the FedEx driver charged with murder and kidnapping in connection with the killing of 7-year-old Athena Strand, is scheduled for early next year.

Preliminary hearings are scheduled for Jan. 21-22 and jury selection will begin Feb. 3, according to court documents filed Monday. Testimony in the case is scheduled to begin March 17 in a Tarrant County courtroom.

Horner has been in the Wise County Jail since his arrest on December 2, 2022 in connection with Athena's death.

Horner, a FedEx contract driver, delivered a Christmas present intended for Athena containing Barbies to her father's home near the Wise County town of Paradise on November 30, 2022. The 7-year-old girl was missing at the time of delivery. and her body was found two days later at a spot on the Trinity River, less than 10 miles from the house.

According to his arrest warrant affidavit, Horner confessed to authorities and said he backed his FedEx truck into Athena. She wasn't seriously injured, but he kidnapped her, strangled her and killed her so she couldn't tell her father about the accident, he said.

A Wise County grand jury indicted Horner in February 2023 on charges of aggravated kidnapping and murder of a child. The next day, prosecutors from the Wise County District Attorney's Office filed a notice in the 271st District Court that they planned to seek the death penalty for Horner if he were convicted of murder at trial.

On March 6, 2023, Horner pleaded not guilty at his arraignment hearing in Wise County.

Formal issues, including who should represent Horner at his trial, have slowed the case. In January, Horner's attorneys unsuccessfully filed a motion to have him transferred from the Wise County Jail to another facility.

In an Aug. 28 motion, Horner and his attorneys requested that his trial be moved out of Wise County, citing “pre-trial publicity” as a barrier to Horner receiving a fair trial in that community.

Attached to her application were several supporting documents, including a number of media reports covering Athena's murder and statements from three Wise County residents confirming widespread public knowledge of the case.

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On Sept. 20, Judge Brock Smith of the 271st District Court in Decatur ordered Horner's trial moved to Tarrant County.

In a statement to the Wise County Messenger, District Attorney James Stainton called the change of venue “unfortunate” but said it has no impact on how the prosecution handles the case.